Poolshark
by Airam4u
Summary: COMPLETE Methos plays a game of pool and learns that a buried secret has resurfaced. Crossover with Stargate SG1.


Disclaimer:Stargate SG-1 characters (Daniel, Jack, Sam, and Teal'c) do not belong to me. They belong to Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Products. Highlander characters (Duncan, Methos, and Richie) do not belong to me. They belong to Panzer/Davis, Rysher/Gaumont Television.  
  
This is my first posted Stargate SG-1 and Highlander fanfic. I hope you enjoy it and I welcome any comments or criticisms. Hope you enjoy this.

* * *

"I can't believe you bought that piece of rubbish earlier! I thought you were a connoisseur of antiques! That piece you bought was a cheap, inaccurate knock-off of some spoil from Ramses the II's pyramid. And you went and spent ten grand on it! You really are a fool MacLeod."  
  
The long-haired gentleman at the bar looked at his friend and couldn't help but smile, "You're a real cynic you know! How can you tell that it isn't authentic?"  
  
The lanky historian turned towards Duncan holding his beer in his hand, "I can tell because Ramses hated emeralds, he wouldn't allow any of the treasures made during his reign to have emeralds! He thought it was bad luck, and apparently it has brought you some as well because you are now ten thousand dollars poorer," he explained to his friend as the man standing behind Duncan tilted his head to listen.  
  
Duncan was about to question his friend when the man behind him interrupted their conversation, "I'm sorry I don't mean to be listening in, but did you buy the six inch golden rod with emeralds on the end at the museum's auction today?"  
  
The friends turned to face the inquisitive man, Duncan responded, "I did."  
  
"It's quite a treasure you bought, and as for its authenticity, I did it myself. I did the testing on it myself, it was made during Ramses II reign in Egypt." He then addressed the thinner man, "the idea that Ramses II didn't like emeralds is a myth."  
  
Duncan turned towards his friend, "Hah! I told you I knew it was real. Besides Adam, it's not like you were there!" he added with a smirk knowing that he wouldn't be able to respond here in public. He then turned to his new friend, "I'd like to buy you a drink Mr...."  
  
The man with glasses gladly obliged, "Daniel Jackson."  
  
"A pleasure to meet someone that could prove my friend here wrong! I'm Duncan MacLeod and the gentleman who believes in myths is Adam Pierson," he told him as he extended his hand to shake hands.  
  
"That wouldn't be Dr. Daniel Jackson would it?" Adam asked.  
  
"Yes..." he asked shocked that a civilian would know his proper title.  
  
Duncan was impressed, "Oh really? What are you a doctor of?"  
  
"Uh... of linguistics and anthropology."  
  
"That's quite impressive Dr. Jackson... what does a man with two doctorates do?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Come up with theories that the Great Pyramids were built by aliens and then get laughed out of the academic circuit," Adam supplied. "You know, I read some of your earlier work, you had a lot of promise. But that paper..."  
  
Daniel who was still bitter at being reminded of his early disgrace started to internally fume. He didn't have a chance to respond when an older gentleman placed his hands on his shoulders, "Danny, what's taking so long with those beers? Oh hey... sorry to interrupt folks."  
  
"The bartender's getting the drinks now Jack. Well it was nice meeting you both," he added through a forced smile as he looked at Adam. He then turned his back to Adam and Duncan and waited for their drinks to arrive and pay.  
  
"Geez Daniel, what's wrong? I haven't seen you this mad in a long time," Jack told his friend.  
  
"Ah nothing, just that guy over there threw my paper in my face."  
  
"The one about the pyramids?" he asked with a leery eye as he looked over at the man Daniel was indicating. Daniel merely nodded his head, "How'd he know about that?"  
  
"I don't know... he recognized my name."  
  
"Who is he?"  
  
"I don't know, some guy named Adam Pierson," he added as he reached for his wallet to pay for the drinks.  
  
"Never heard of him," he added as it brought a smile to Daniel's face. Jack then leaned over to Daniel's ear, "Besides, we know who's right!" The two then walked away from the bar to join their friends at a corner booth.  
  
Duncan and Adam watched the pair walk off, Adam was the first to speak once they had left. "The paper he wrote was brilliant. I wonder how he came up with the theory?"  
  
"I thought you said he was laughed at by his peers?"  
  
"He was. Most experts in the field though are very conservative and traditional. They don't like thinking outside the box and coming up with new theories. They dismissed his theory as soon as they heard it before even studying his evidence. He raised some interesting points, it even had me thinking..."  
  
"Come on Adam, that's ridiculous! Aliens building the Great Pyramids? That's absurd!"  
  
"I didn't say it wasn't, but it got me thinking... Besides that's the same man who verified the age of your little rod, he is wrong about that by the way." He then added in a whisper, "And I was there Duncan. I was one of Ramses II's steward, he hated emeralds!" He then got up and gave a slight smile as he revealed a little bit more of himself to his friend as he headed over to the pool table.  
  
Duncan stared after Adam and smiled back. He was constantly amazed at how much his friend had seen. Duncan wondered if he would ever know everything that he had lived through. And his friend had been through a lot, but only a few people knew that. To him and a handful of others, Adam Pierson was not just a historian. Rather he was Methos, the oldest living immortal who was more than five thousand years old. Duncan nodded his head as he followed Adam to the pool tables. By the time he had arrived, Adam was speaking with several men standing around the table.  
  
"Is this Major Carter here tonight? I'd like to challenge him to a game?"  
  
The men Adam addressed all stared at each other and couldn't help but smile at the truth they knew, "Yeah. The Major's over there at that table over there," they told him as they pointed at a booth in the corner. The airmen were amused as Adam walked off in search of Major Samantha Carter, "Man he's in for a surprise! I wonder how he'll feel when he's beat by a woman!"  
  
Duncan, who had remained by the table and overheard the remark, couldn't help but smile. Maybe she was good enough to beat him and put him in his place.  
  
Adam walked up to the corner booth, "Is one of you Major Carter?" he asked as he looked at the faces around the table. Around the table sat a rather large black man wearing a black watch cap, a blonde woman with short hair and blue eyes, an older man with a military cut hairstyle, and Daniel Jackson. "Dr. Jackson," he said with a tilt of his head.  
  
The blond woman spoke up, "I'm Major Carter."  
  
Adam, a man who had seen millions of things in his lifetime and had learned how to control his facial expressions, was not able to hide the amusement on his face as he realized that he had made an incorrect assumption earlier. "Really?... Well Major, they tell me you're the best pool player here. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind playing a few games at say ten dollars a game?"  
  
Sam turned up the corners of her lips as she accepted the offer, "I'd love to." She loved it when out-of-towners came looking for a game of pool, she loved taking their money!  
  
"Excellent," he replied as he stepped aside to allow the older man to get up and let the Major out. "I'm Adam."  
  
"Sam. Thank you sir," she added as she stepped past her team leader.  
  
Adam then turned to Daniel just before they left for the pool table, "I'm sorry about earlier Dr. Jackson. I did find your paper quite fascinating, possibly a little far-fetched, but you did raise a lot of questions and provided sound reasoning. Your paper did get me questioning the origins of the pyramids. You're still wrong on the authenticity of the golden rod. Ramses really did hate emeralds, he thought they were bad luck," he told him as he walked off and followed Sam to the pool table.  
  
"Who is that guy?" Jack asked.  
  
"I've no idea. He's got to be in academia though if he read my paper. I've never heard of him though and I know all the experts on ancient Egypt," Daniel replied.  
  
"So what do you want to play?" Sam asked her challenger.  
  
"We could play a little eight-ball, but personally I'm more fond of nine-ball."  
  
"Sounds good, you want to place a cap on the winnings?"  
  
"Sure why not, how's a hundred sound?"  
  
Sam momentarily hesitated since she didn't have a hundred dollars on her, but then again she hadn't lost a match in the six years she'd been playing at O'Malley's. She didn't plan on starting tonight. "Sure."  
  
Adam was pulling the balls out of the pockets and feeding them to an airman who was all too eager to see another man lose to Major Carter. Once the balls were racked he then turned to Sam and was about to speak before he was interrupted, "Don't say 'Ladies first!'"  
  
"God, I would never say such a thing like that! Unlike my friend Duncan over there, I think chivalry is dead. I was going to ask you if you wanted to use the cue ball or the one-ball to see who goes first?" he asked her as he placed both balls on the near end of the table.  
  
"Oh, I'll take the cue ball," she told him as she leaned over the cue ball as Adam leaned over the one ball. They both drew back their hands and hit their respective balls and waited to see who would be the closest to have the ball stop closest to the edge they stood over without touching it. Sam's attempt left the cue ball a couple of inches from the edge. Adam's shot left the one ball less than a centimeter from the edge. Those closest to the table whistled, "Nice shot!"  
  
Adam merely smiled as he prepared for his first shot. He drew his arm back and momentarily held his breath as he fired his arm forward and followed through with his shot. The balls scattered around the table but not one fell into one of the pockets. Sam walked towards the table to assess her first shot, "Unlucky break."  
  
"Yes, well you can't win all the time," he told her as he walked over beside Duncan and finished up his beer and ordered another one from the waitress that passed by. He sat down and watched Sam work her way around the table. He studied her movements and shots as a smile started to creep across his face. As Sam was lining up her shot for the seven-ball he leaned to Duncan, "She's quite good you know. I bet you fifty dollars that she's a mathematician."  
  
"What makes you say that?" he asked as she easily sank the seven and moved on to the eight ball.  
  
"I can see it in her eyes, she's figuring out the geometry before each shot."  
  
"I've never seen a mathematician that beautiful... You're on... At the rate she's going you might not get another chance to play..."  
  
Adam turned to his friend and smiled, "Duncan, have you ever seen me play nine ball and not sink a ball off the break?"  
  
Duncan searched his memory, "No..." He then saw the small smirk appear on Adam's face, "Wait, you did that on purpose?"  
  
Adam didn't directly respond as he saw Sam sink the nine-ball and start to prepare the table for the next game, "Nice shooting Sam." He then whispered to Duncan, "I needed to see her style of play," he said as he got up to rack the balls for Sam's next break.  
  
The next game started with Sam sinking the four off the break. She continued to call and sink her shots until she reached the three-ball where she read the bank wrong and missed her shot. Adam took another long sip of his beer before getting up to take his shot, "That was quite an impressive run you had."  
  
"I guess they all have to come to an end at some point," she said as she stood back to watch the lanky man play. She was impressed by his play as he quickly finished off the table. She noted how every shot he made was deliberate and the cue ball was always perfectly placed for his next shot. As the nine-ball fell into the pocket those who had been only displaying a mild interest in the game started to watch the match with more interest. They had never seen one of Sam's opponents play so well. The crowd grew as Adam proceeded to win the next five matches giving Sam only one short streak of shooting.  
  
As the crowd grew to twenty-five people, Sam's friends finally noticed the commotion and excitement that was growing. They headed over and worked their way through the off duty personnel who had gathered around to watch. "Hey Sam, you showing the guy any mercy?" Jack asked as he pulled up beside her.  
  
She turned and looked at her commanding officer, "No, this guy is really good! He's up five games."  
  
Jack and Daniel stared at Sam with wide eyes and then looked at the table, "What? You're kidding right?"  
  
"Nope. I'm down fifty bucks right now, I hope it doesn't get any worse."  
  
Daniel who was still shocked, finally spit out a question, "But you've never lost a match before!"  
  
"Yeah I know. We put a cap at one hundred though, so I've still got time," she told him as she walked to the table to take her turn after Adam missed on the six in the eighth game.  
  
Adam returned to his spot next to Duncan, "We're developing quite a crowd here..."  
  
"Apparently she's never lost a match here. You seem to be making history," he told him.  
  
"Yes, well I do have some experience in that." They sat in silence and drank their beers as they watched Sam finish off the table and work through the next table easily. "She's got quite an interesting group of followers."  
  
"What do you mean Adam?"  
  
"Well look at this place. All these airmen are intently watching her play. When I came up to her earlier, she was sitting with that rather large black man who looks like a thug, the older man over there, and that Jackson fellow. Now what would a thug, a colonel or a general, an archeologist, and a mathematician all have in common?"  
  
"You're still working under the assumption that she's a mathematician though," Duncan pointed out.  
  
"Because she is. Would you like for me to settle this?"  
  
"Please do," Duncan prodded him.  
  
Adam waited for Sam to win the ninth game reducing Adam's lead to three games before calling her over. "Do you mind my asking what your profession is?"  
  
"No. I'm a Major in the Air Force."  
  
"Yes, well I gathered that earlier, but what did you study?"  
  
"Well I studied mathematics at the Academy-"  
  
"Hah, see MacLeod I told you she was a mathematician," Adam said as he held out his hand waiting for Duncan to pay up.  
  
"I did my PhD though in theoretical astrophysics, so I'm not a mathematician anymore," she added with a smile as she looked at Duncan who smiled back and put his fifty dollars back into his wallet.  
  
Adam was intrigued by the latest revelation, "What does a theoretical astrophysicist study while working with the Air Force?"  
  
"Deep Space Radar Telemetry," she told him as she walked back to the pool table to start the next game.  
  
"Do you have any idea what Deep Space Radar Telemetry is?" Duncan asked Adam.  
  
"Not the faintest idea... Does make for an interesting friendship though with an Egyptologist." Adam once again took another long sip from his beer after Sam missed on the five-ball. He then went on to clear the table quite rapidly.  
  
Sam watched as she stood with her teammates, she lowered her head when he finished the game and walked back to his table and ordered another beer. "That beer has got to be catching up with him by now. That'll be his fifth beer since we started playing an hour ago. It's gotta be affecting his shooting soon..."  
  
"A little worried are we Major?" Jack asked amused. He himself had lost several matches to his second in command before giving up on trying to beat her at pool.  
  
Adam looked at Sam across the table and could see the slight worry on her face that she would lose. "Let's see how good she really is... watch and learn Highlander!" he told him as he returned to the table for their eleventh game.  
  
Adam took a longer time with his shots in the eleventh game as he made his shots more complex than necessary. When he missed on an easy shot for the five-ball the crowd groaned as Sam smiled, the beer was finally catching up with him. Adam walked back to the table and smiled. He then sat down and watched Sam as she assessed the table. He was taking a sip and looking over his glass when he saw Sam realize the situation that was before her on the table. She looked up at Adam and could see the smile in his eyes. She then mouthed to him, "You're good."  
  
Adam merely tilted his head as he set his beer down. Duncan noticed the silent communication and asked Adam about it, "What was that all about?"  
  
"She just realized what I did..." he added with a silent smile.  
  
Duncan looked at the table and started to study it but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. "What did you do?"  
  
"She's just now realizing that I set up every shot before, including the placement of all the other balls on the table. Her shot on the five is easy, but she won't have a shot on the six. No matter how good her setup with the cue ball is."  
  
"I don't know, she's a pretty smart woman. She did see what you did. I'll bet you fifty dollars that she sinks the six," Duncan told his friend.  
  
"Oh she'll sink the six alright, she'll also sink the cue ball though. I'll bet you fifty dollars that that's what happens."  
  
"You're on," Duncan said as he silently cheered on Samantha Carter. They watched her sink the five-ball and prepare for her shot on the six. Unfortunately for Duncan, she sank the six and the cue ball.  
  
When Sam looked up from her shot she saw Duncan reaching into his wallet and pulling out a fifty-dollar bill and handing it to Adam. She then headed towards Adam and Duncan, "I've never seen anyone play the table like you just did," she told Adam.  
  
"I will give you some credit Major. For as long as I've been playing, you're the first one to realize what I did to them before taking that first shot." Adam then smiled and walked towards the table, he had taken two steps before turning around "I promise I won't do that again. I just wanted to see how good you were," he told her as he returned to the table and rapidly sank the remaining four balls.  
  
"Damn your friend is really good..."  
  
"Well he's been playing for a very long time..."  
  
"How long exactly? He couldn't have been playing for that long, he's no more than thirty years old."  
  
Duncan turned to her and tried to hide his smile, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you the truth. Besides, he thinks you're pretty good. I don't often hear him speaking praises for others."  
  
"Not good enough though to beat him... I think I'm going to have to go to the ATM across the street!" she added with a chuckle as she watched Adam sink three balls off the break. She then looked at the nearly empty beer that Adam had been drinking, "Does he have a wooden leg or something where he keeps the beer he's been drinking?"  
  
Duncan laughed, "No, he's just developed a very high tolerance for beer...I think he's been drinking since before you or I were born."  
  
Sam laughed at the comment not realizing how true it was. "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Samantha Carter, but everyone calls me Sam."  
  
Duncan held out his hand, "Duncan MacLeod."  
  
"Nice to meet you. I haven't seen you around here before."  
  
"I came down from Seacouver for the auction that the museum was hosting. I'm a collector of antiques and artifacts."  
  
"You should have a chat with Daniel, he's big into artifacts," she added as she pointed at her teammate across the room.  
  
"How do you know him?"  
  
"We work together," she absently told him not noticing the skeptical look on Duncan's face as he tried to connect an archeologist with a theoretical astrophysicist. She then turned to Duncan as Adam sank the nine-ball and started walking back towards them for another drink, "Hey what were you doing just after my last shot?"  
  
"Paying him. I bet him that you would sink the six."  
  
"Then why'd you pay him," Sam asked confused.  
  
Adam answered as he stood next to them, "Because I bet him fifty dollars that you would sink the six and the cue ball."  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
"I've pulled that move on a lot of people. No one's been able to make that shot, and to be honest I can't even make that shot. But you're the best I've played in a long time, and smarter than most. I figured you'd find a way to make the shot but not without sinking the cue ball."  
  
"That's the most compliments I've ever heard you give someone!" Duncan chided his friend.  
  
"Well maybe it's because I respect her you Scottish boyscout!" he chimed back. "That and the fact that she's prettier than you!" he added as he walked back to the pool table to start their thirteenth game.  
  
"A lot of people find me attractive!" Duncan replied. He then turned to Sam, "He's actually jealous of me. I get all the women and I always beat him!" he told her.  
  
"You do not!" was the reply from the pool table as Adam took his first shot.  
  
Sam laughed along with them as she watched the friends trade barbs back and forth, "What do you beat him at?"  
  
"Sparring. The only time he beat me was when he cheated and pulled out a knife," Duncan added with a smile as he recalled the event.  
  
"Yes, well you've never beaten me at chess Highlander. You may have the brawn, but I have the smarts and the wits to survive!" He then returned his attention to his shot as he muttered under his breath in an unknown language.  
  
However the unknown language was known to one other person who did hear Adam's mumbling. He approached Adam, "What was it you just said?"  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"What did you just say? I thought you just said tek tonela mainak'era rua chemen?"  
  
Adam contained his shock at hearing someone repeat what he had mumbled, "You must have heard wrong. I don't know what that is." He wondered though about Daniel Jackson, he couldn't possibly understand ancient Egyptian. Even if Daniel was a linguist and an Egyptologist, he was the only one on Earth who knew how to speak ancient Egyptian; the language had died over three thousand years ago.  
  
Daniel stared at Adam momentarily before turning to Jack and Teal'c and pulling them away from the pool table to speak to them in private. "What's up Daniel?" Jack asked.  
  
"I don't know, but I could have sworn he just said 'I didn't reach five thousand with just my sword' in ancient Egyptian."  
  
Jack and Teal'c both stared at Daniel and then at the lanky man who was playing pool, "Come on Daniel, you probably misheard him. I mean seriously, who other than you knows how to speak ancient Egyptian?"  
  
Teal'c addressed Daniel as well, "It is most unlikely that any human here would know how to speak it."  
  
"I know, but I'm telling you I heard him speak in ancient Egyptian... There's something odd about him Jack..."  
  
"Yeah well, until you figure it out I'm going to go get myself another drink," he told him as he headed towards the bar.  
  
Daniel however was determined to learn more about Adam Pierson. He walked up to Sam who was chatting with Duncan. "Hey Sam."  
  
"Hey Daniel. Have you met Duncan?"  
  
"Yeah, up at the bar earlier. Adam was pretty confident that Duncan had bought a fake artifact from Ramses court. I did the authentication myself."  
  
Duncan tried not to smile at the Egyptologist in front of him who was wrong. Personally, he trusted someone who had actually been there over someone who just studied the past. "Well he can be pretty stubborn and he always thinks he's right."  
  
"What does he do?" Daniel asked.  
  
"A little bit of everything, primarily though he's a historian."  
  
"Oh... does he teach anywhere?"  
  
"Adam a teacher? That'll be the day. No, he mainly does research in Seacouver, Washington or Paris."  
  
"What's he research?" Daniel asked further.  
  
Duncan looked over at Adam and couldn't help but smile. Adam had built for himself the perfect cover. He was currently doing research for the Watchers on the Methos Chronicles, or rather changing the chronicles so that no one would find him. "On myths mainly... It seems tonight isn't your night Sam, he just cleaned up the table again."  
  
"He's really killing my reputation around here! They're going to be talking about tonight for weeks at the base!" she told him as she smiled.  
  
"If you think of it another way, this might not be such a bad thing... Think about it, if you lose a hundred dollars tonight people will start to think that maybe they can beat you after all. Just make sure you still stay sharp, I bet you'll be getting a lot more challenges in the next few weeks. You'll make that hundred dollars up easy!"  
  
They all continued to chat as Adam continued to clean up at the table, making shot after shot and winning the next two games. He was in the middle of their sixteenth game when he felt the presence of another Immortal nearby. The unexpected buzz in the middle of his shot forced him to lose his concentration just enough to miss his shot.  
  
Unlike MacLeod, he kept his attention on the pool table; he didn't scan the crowd for another Immortal who was also feeling a buzz. Duncan made eye contact with a tall blond muscular man who had just entered the bar. Duncan excused himself from his new friends and walked over to the new Immortal. They spoke quietly for a minute before Duncan returned to his table to gather his jacket and sword.  
  
Adam asked him a question as he gathered his stuff, "I take it he's not a friend."  
  
"No, he's looking for someone we both know," he added cryptically, leaving unspoken that it was Methos the man was looking for.  
  
"Let it be MacLeod. It doesn't concern you," he told his too noble friend.  
  
Duncan looked at Daniel and the others around him before he spoke in an old form of Gaelic, "He challenged me. He felt your Quickening and so he thought I was you Methos."  
  
Adam responded in Gaelic, "It's not your fight MacLeod. Let the man chase the myth that I am."  
  
"He challenged me," he finally said as he turned and headed out the door.  
  
Adam muttered under his breath, "Damn you Highlander!"  
  
Sam then walked up to the table after winning that game, "Where'd Duncan go?"  
  
Daniel slowly answered, "He left, he didn't say where though."  
  
"Is he coming back?" she asked as she took a sip from her beer.  
  
"I hope so," Adam quietly added. He then made a decision that he couldn't have his friend fighting his fights for him, "Sam it's been a pleasure, but I have to get going," he told her as he reached for his own trench coat and started to put it on.  
  
"What? Now that I'm on a roll? Come on you gotta give me a chance to win a few more games and work my debt down!"  
  
"I'd love to, but I have to go."  
  
"At least let me pay you the eighty dollars I owe you. I just have to-"  
  
Adam interrupted her first, "Don't worry about it. I already won fifty dollars from Duncan, I'm already ahead! It's been a pleasure meeting you both," he added as he quickly left the bar and went in search of Duncan.  
  
Sam stopped staring at the retreating figure and then turned to Daniel, "That was odd."  
  
"There's something off about those two Sam. I heard Adam say something in ancient Egyptian earlier. And just before Duncan left they were speaking in an old obscure dialect of Gaelic..."  
  
"Maybe they study languages?"  
  
"I don't think so. I know everyone that has a decent knowledge of how to read ancient Egyptian, and they aren't any of them."  
  
"What are you trying to say Daniel?"  
  
"I don't know..." he said as he watched the door close behind Adam. "But he said he was a myth, someone called Methos."  
  
"Who's that?"  
  
"I'm not sure. I think I'm going to do some research on it tonight."  
  
"Yeah well, let's get out of here," Sam told him as she went to grab her jacket.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later Daniel was driving Sam home when they drove past an alley that was being lit up with electrical currents and lightening. "Whoa! What the hell is that?" Daniel yelled as he slammed on the brakes and put the car into reverse to look into the alley.  
  
They remained in their cars as they watched the lightening show last for another ten seconds. They looked at each other not knowing whether or not they should go down the alley.  
  
They didn't notice the car approach the alley from the other end and stop and wait. Methos stepped out of the car and sticking to the shadows worked his way to the site of the recent battleground. He stopped though at a distance where he felt he and the surviving Immortal could not sense each other. From the darkness he heard a voice, "Methos will you get over here and help me! I'm slightly wounded and I can't dispose of the body by myself."  
  
"Yes, well MacLeod, we'll have to do it later. We have a crowd watching at the other end of the alley. Let's get out of here shall we before they start asking questions!" Adam replied back relieved to learn that his friend had survived.  
  
"Is that..?" Sam asked Daniel.  
  
"It looks like him... What do you think that was?"  
  
"It looked like some type of localized electrical storm... I can come back tomorrow after work and take a look and take some readings," Sam suggested.  
  
Daniel continued to stare down the alley at the retreating figure, "Yeah okay," he told her as he started to drive away. He didn't mention to Sam that he thought he saw someone else walking in the shadows and that he thought it was Adam Pierson.

* * *

"So'd you find anything?" Daniel asked Sam two days later.  
  
Sam looked up from her workbench and was relieved to see Daniel there, she needed someone to bounce ideas off. "Yeah, and its weird and I can't explain it. I went there after work and I took a few samples and ran some tests. The oddest thing though when I arrived was that the air still smelt burnt and it was still carrying a high electrical charge."  
  
"How can you tell that?" Daniel asked.  
  
Sam sheepishly answered, "Because, uh, it made my hair stand up... Anyways I looked at the buildings there and they all had some small slightly charred areas. It looked like a staff blast had done it, but we didn't see any staff blasts... just lightening. So, I took some scrapings from those areas and I ran them earlier this morning. They have an identical signature to a staff blast..."  
  
"Is there someone out here running around with a staff weapon?"  
  
"I checked our inventory and with Teal'c, all our staff weapons were accounted for that evening... but remember it didn't look like a staff blast..." Sam reminded him.  
  
"So maybe it's a different, more advanced weapon... Or maybe there's another Goa'uld or Jaffa here!" Daniel excitedly exclaimed. "That makes sense with what I found!"  
  
"On what?"  
  
"On this Methos legend... I wasn't able to find very much, and some of it is speculation on my part... No one out there publicly recognizes this myth, but I sent out a few queries. I got one response. They said that Methos was a legend, the oldest living man, reportedly over five thousand years old and that he had a stone or gem that gave him his long life... Now, I did some cross-checking and I came up with one other possible link. There's a myth surrounding Methuselah, that he had a stone that gave the owner long life. Now, Methuselah is the oldest man mentioned in the Bible, he supposedly died at 969 years old. He supposedly then gave the stone to his grandson-Noah, who survived the flood."  
  
"Come on! The stuff in the Bible didn't really happen! Sam objected.  
  
"I'm not saying that it's all true, but I think a lot of it is based on actual events. Almost all ancient civilizations have a story about a flood that wiped out whole communities and left very few survivors... What if Methuselah is Methos?"  
  
"How's that connected with the other night?" a confused Sam asked.  
  
"I didn't mention it the other night, but I think I saw Adam walking in the shadows with Duncan after that storm or whatever it was. When we were at the bar, I heard Duncan call Adam Methos, and he admitted that he was a myth. And earlier in the night he said he didn't reach five thousand with just his sword. Adam has to be this Methos legend. How else could he know how to speak in ancient Egyptian?" Daniel wildly gestured.  
  
"I don't know, but it's not possible! No way is he five thousand years old!" Sam skeptically told him.  
  
"Why not? The Goa'uld can..."  
  
"But he's not a Goa'uld... neither Teal'c nor I sensed a symbiote."  
  
Daniel thought about that momentarily before coming up with an idea, "Maybe he's something else... someone else that come through the Stargate ten thousand years ago..."  
  
"But he's human... The Goa'uld populated the universe with humans from here..."  
  
"I don't know exactly what he is, but I think we should find out... we need to talk to Jack and General Hammond about this," Daniel suggested.

* * *

A week later, Daniel stepped out of his car and headed to the elevator in his apartment building. He had already pressed the call button when he heard someone speak behind him, "I take it your surveillance didn't tell you anything..."  
  
At the sound of the voice Daniel jumped and turned around, "Christ, you scared me!"  
  
"Sorry to disappoint you if that's who you were hoping to find through your surveillance, but I'm not him... So why the surveillance?" Adam asked as he gestured towards the open elevator doors and led Daniel in.  
  
Daniel was shocked, "How did you know about that?"  
  
"It never hurts to be aware and know who is interested in one's self... Which brings me back to my first question, why did the Air Force have a surveillance team on me the past week?" Once again Adam shepherded Daniel towards his apartment.  
  
"How do you know where I live?" Daniel asked as they stood in front of his apartment.  
  
"There isn't much about you I don't know... Are you going to open the door and let us in so we can talk inside or do you want to have this little chit chat right here?"  
  
Daniel momentarily stared at Adam before he registered what had been said. He then broke eye contact and searched for his keys and let them in.  
  
Once inside Adam casually walked over to the bookshelves that were filled with ancient artifacts from across the world. "No more stalling Dr. Jackson, why was I under surveillance last week?"  
  
"Because we wanted to know who you are."  
  
"Easy enough, I'm Adam Pierson," Adam told him as he looked over his shoulder from the far wall of artifacts. "I already introduced myself to you."  
  
"We were looking for Methos," Daniel told him as he came up beside him to gauge his reaction.  
  
Unfortunately for Daniel, Adam was prepared for this and showed no emotion. Instead he calmly looked over at Daniel, "who's that?"  
  
"A myth."  
  
"A myth?"  
  
"Yes. He's supposedly over five thousand years old, and the source of his long life is a stone. Actually, I believe that Methos, is Methuselah..."  
  
"The same one in the Bible?" Adam asked back, amused by this new version of the myth surrounding his true identity. "Didn't he die in the Bible?"  
  
"That's what the story says... but you can't believe everything you read," Daniel told him as he continued to try to read Adam's body language.  
  
"No you can't," Adam told him as he walked away and sat on the couch. "So what does this Methos guy have to do with me?"  
  
Daniel waited before responding as he tried to decide how to proceed. He decided on being forthright, "I think you're Methos."  
  
Adam laughed at the suggestion, but his eyes betrayed him to Daniel. They showed the fear that a mortal had discovered his identity. He knew through his tracking program that Daniel Jackson had been looking for information on Methos, but he didn't think that a connection had been made. "Now that's funny! You think I'm over five thousand years old?"  
  
Knowing that he was right, Daniel decided to proceed on, "Yes... I heard you the other night."  
  
"Heard me say what?"  
  
"I heard Duncan call you Methos and you admitted to being a myth when you were speaking in an old and nearly lost form of Gaelic... and earlier when you were taking your shot you muttered under your breath, 'I didn't reach five thousand with just my sword'... You said that in ancient Egyptian," Daniel told Adam who now had a serious expression on his face. "How else could you know how to speak a long dead language?" Daniel paused and waited for a response. "What are you?"  
  
Methos calmly stared at him before going on the offensive and trying to get some of his own questions answered. "You know, that's an interesting hypothesis you have... What intrigues me more is why a covert special ops colonel, a theoretical astrophysicist, a 'diplomatic liaison', and an archeologist, who believes the pyramids were built by aliens, are all working together for the United States Air Force? Oh, and out of curiosity, what makes you think I was speaking in a dead language? If it's dead, how would you know?"  
  
Adam's knowledge of his team and offensive responsive had caught Daniel slightly off guard. The two men stared at each other in silence. As they waited, Methos felt the buzz of another Immortal, it didn't surprise him though. He had set up his own surveillance for this evening with the assistance of Duncan and Richie. Duncan was serving as a lookout for the other members of Daniel's team out on the street; Richie's job was to walk past Daniel's apartment if Duncan had seen any of the other team members. A couple minutes later a knock at the door startled Daniel. He looked away from Adam towards the door, he was also surprised that Adam seemed to be expecting the arrival of guests. Daniel walked over to the door and looked through the peep hole to find the rest of SG-1 standing there. He quickly opened the door and ushered them in without saying anything to them.  
  
"You got dinner ready for-" Jack started to say before he saw Adam sitting on the couch. He turned back to look at the rest of his team and Daniel. "Daniel?"  
  
"Yeah... he uh showed up today... he knew about the surveillance," Daniel told him as he turned away from the door and headed back towards the seating area.  
  
"Good to see you again Sam. You must be Colonel Jack O'Neill," he said looking at Jack. He then turned to Teal'c and stared at the tall man wearing a baseball cap low on his head, "And you must be 'Murray.'"  
  
Jack glared at the casual Adam as he called Teal'c Murray, as if he knew it wasn't his real name. "Adam. What are you doing here?"  
  
Adam ignored him though as he continued to look at Teal'c, more specifically at the area of his forehead just under his hat. Adam noticed that there was a bit of distance between the rim of his hat and his forehead, he wasn't sure but he thought he saw a glint of gold protruding from underneath.  
  
Sam noticed Adam's prying eyes and brought it to her teammates' attention. Adam stood up and walked over to the window and looked out as he tried to piece the information he had gathered together. Behind him Daniel spoke quietly to SG-1, "He knows there's something up about us. He knows what we do, and he knows that 'Murray' is a cover story. He also knows that I speak ancient Egyptian..."  
  
"How does he know all that?"  
  
"I don't know. He learned the last part from me... I told him I understood him the other night. Jack, Methos isn't a myth, he's standing right over there!"  
  
"Come on Daniel," Jack pleaded with his friend. He had a hard time believing that there was a five thousand year old non-Goa'uld walking around the planet.  
  
"Jack, it's real. I don't know what he is or what his intentions are, but he's real. He's over five thousand years old!"  
  
Over by the window Adam was putting the pieces together. He thought of Daniel's paper and why the U.S. Air Force would hire an archeologist in the first place, let alone one that believed the pyramids were built by aliens. 'Unless they were built by aliens and they're still here... But why is he working with a theoretical astrophysicist? Let alone under a mountain? That makes no sense if they are working on Deep Space Radar Telemetry... If there are aliens, maybe she explains the science to them, or maybe they've found a way to travel across the galaxy...' His reasoning slowed as he remembered someone he knew from when he was very young...  
  
Methos remembered when he was no more than a century old, he'd already died over ten times and didn't know what he was before he met Crea'maan. He had been stealing some food from one of Ramses palaces when he felt the odd buzz that periodically plagued him. He ignored it though as he continued to fill his bag with food. He was startled though when he felt the metal of a blade against his neck and dropped all the food in his hands. He started to tremble when the man behind him spoke, "Who are you?" With the blade held at his neck, Crea'maan urged Methos to stand and face him as he led him with his sword.  
  
Methos begged the man for his life, even though he had died many times he didn't know if he would wake up after he died. He didn't know how long this ability would last him, how long he would be cursed and be forbidden entrance to the other world across the river of death. The more times he died and came back to life the more he worried that the time when he didn't reawaken would mean that he would finally cross over and that the God of the Underworld would be very displeased with him and punish him even more. "Please, I'm sorry... I just wanted some food!"  
  
"Why do you not defend yourself and raise your sword?"  
  
Methos looked into his face and then gestured at himself and the clothes he wore, "I have no sword... please, I am sorry for stealing from you."  
  
Crea'maan looked down at the scared man and realized that he had no idea who he was, "You do not know what I am?"  
  
"A man who holds my life in his hands. Please spare me, I will never steal again from you!"  
  
Crea'maan lowered his sword and re-sheathed it. "You do not know what you are do you? Well, you'll have plenty of time to learn that. I am Crea'maan. However, please call me Shafan, I am steward to Pharaoh Ramses, he is the one you steal from," Crea'maan saw the fear in Methos' face. "Do not worry, Ramses cannot hurt you. What is your name?"  
  
For some reason Methos believed the man who had spared his life and seemed like he was not going to turn him over to Pharaoh's guards. "Methos."  
  
"Well Methos, come with me, you have much to learn." And so over the next few hours Crea'maan explained to Methos what he was, that they were both Immortals. Members of a race that would not die unless another took their head. And that there were those out there who actively hunted for their heads, so that they would be the last one standing. The last Immortal alive would have all the power and strength of all the Immortals who had ever lived and would rule over the world. He told him that he would need to learn how to wield a sword to keep his head where it was, attached to his neck and shoulders. Crea'maan also imparted on the naïve Methos some of his own philosophy concerning the Game and the Prize. Methos could either hunt all the other Immortals down in search of power and winning the prize, or he could live and enjoy life while the other barbarians dwindled the number of Immortals down, and then when there were only a few left he could enter the Game as an unknown.  
  
Over the next few years the two continued to train together and become close friends. One day Crea'maan watched as Methos, by then an assistant steward, imposed a penalty on a thief for stealing from their God's servant, Pharaoh Ramses. Later that night Crea'maan took Methos aside and told him what he knew. "After everything I have taught you and knowing now what you are and what you are capable of, you still believe Pharaoh to be sent from the God Ra?"  
  
"Of course! After the God's left, they kept sending us Pharaoh's to watch over us. Where would we be without the goodness of our Gods?" Methos questioned back.  
  
"Methos, you are a fool if you believe in their Gods and that Pharaoh is good and always right!"  
  
Methos was taken aback, "How can you say that? You are chief steward to Pharaoh Ramses!"  
  
"How can you believe that there are gods when you can live forever? How old do you think I am Methos?"  
  
"I do not know, you have never told me... you look no older than 80 seasons."  
  
"I have lived through more than 65,000 cycles of the moon. I come from a time when there were no Pharaohs."  
  
"Who ruled over the people then?"  
  
"They claimed to be our 'gods': Ra, Apohpis, Heru'ur, Anubis. But they were not our gods. They called themselves the Goa'uld. They were serpents who took our people as hosts and ruled by fear, they enslaved thousands of us. They stole them from us and marked them with their symbols on their foreheads. The people feared these Jaffa, especially the ones with golden symbols on their foreheads. When they came they knew that more would suffer or they would be brought before these so called gods and made to suffer! I believed in our gods before, but those serpents took advantage of our faith and used us! Our gods did nothing! There are no gods!! Only myths and false hopes Methos! Never believe in something you cannot see, that is the only way to survive."  
  
"Then why do you serve Pharaoh?"  
  
"Because I have sworn my life to protect us from them. They came once through a gateway, we rebelled though and forced them back through it. By then, they had already taken thousands of our people through the ring with them. Where they went, I do not know... perhaps they traveled through the Chappa'ai back to their gods or their own worlds. When we rid the world of them we buried the gateway through which they came. I swore to my wife that I would never allow for them to return again, to never let another mother suffer what she had... They took our son from us!" Crea'maan told him angrily as he remembered the family he once had. "I serve Pharaoh to make sure that those serpents never return, that they never uncover the Chappa'ai. To make sure that another one of their Jaffa never steals another human from us. That is why I am here, that is why I survive."  
  
As the memories came back to him Adam connected all the pieces. The Chappa'ai must have been unburied, and these Goa'uld and their Jaffa must have come through. He had made a promise to Crea'maan; he now planned on keeping it. He looked down at MacLeod and gave him a signal to come up prepared. MacLeod looked up at him concerned, he wanted to know what Methos was getting he and Richie into. He pulled out his phone and called Methos' cell phone.  
  
In the apartment the sound of the phone startled everyone. Adam calmly pulled out his phone and began to speak in Japanese. He had done his research and learned that despite knowing many languages, Daniel didn't know any modern languages, only ancient languages.  
  
-This is worse than I thought. I need you both up here. 

-What's going on Methos?

-They're aliens.

-What? Have you gone insane?

-No. Just get up here, I'll explain it all when you get up here. The ones we need to worry about are the doctor and the thug. Have Richie knock when you get here, then storm the place.

-Methos, we can't kill them! They work for the Air Force!

-I know, I need answers first. I'll see you in a few.  
  
Adam then hung up his phone and turned to face the other four people in the room. When he turned around he slid his arms under his trench coat and behind his back in order to reach the handle of his Ivanhoe. "Sorry for the interruption. I was making plans for a meeting later today. So, where were we? Oh yes, I was asking Daniel why the four of you work together for the Air Force."  
  
"I don't think you're in the position to be asking questions."  
  
"And you are?"  
  
"Well..." Jack stammered. "We're in his place. We get to ask the questions."  
  
"Oh, is that how this works? Very well then, ask away."  
  
"Okay, are you Methos?" Daniel asked him.  
  
Methos stared back at them and waited. Before he answered he felt the buzz of another Immortal approach. The knock at the door interrupted them once again, as they all looked towards the door, Methos prepared himself to attack the muscular black man in the room. "You expecting someone Danny?" Jack asked him as Daniel approached the door and looked through the peep hole.  
  
"No," a confused Daniel told him as he didn't recognize the face on the other side of the door. He unlocked the door and pulled the door open, "Can I help-ah!" he yelped when he felt the cool metal against his neck and force him back into the room. As that was happening, Adam drew his sword out and knocked the hat off Teal'c's head and quickly placed his sword at his neck. Richie and a retreating Daniel entered the apartment as Duncan, with his sword drawn, approached Sam and Jack who were raising their hands and reeling back away from the intruders.  
  
"What the hell is going on?" Jack yelled.  
  
"Ridding the world of you," Adam spit out as he led Teal'c up against a wall. Richie meanwhile led a shaking Daniel against another wall.  
  
"Uh, why?" Daniel asked as he stared at the blade against his neck.  
  
"Because Earth does not belong to the Goa'uld!" Adam told them. "We got rid of you once, we'll do it again!"  
  
Duncan turned towards his friend, "What are you talking about... Adam?"  
  
The members of SG-1 all stared at each other in shock. Adam ignored Duncan's question and looked at Daniel, "Are you Apophis?"  
  
"What?! How dare you!" Daniel yelled back disgusted at the thought that he could be Apophis, the Goa'uld who stole his wife Sha're.  
  
Indicating the man under his sword, Methos explained, "Is he not your head Jaffa? He wears your mark proudly!"  
  
Daniel yelled back, "No! I hate Apophis! He stole my wife from me! He took her to be the host for his queen!"  
  
"We're not Goa'uld... we're fighting against them," Jack interjected as he tried to get a handle on the situation.  
  
Adam looked at Daniel and studied him, he could see the hurt in his face at losing his wife to the Goa'uld. Adam believed Daniel, "This man is Jaffa! He serves the Goa'uld!"  
  
Teal'c calmly addressed Adam when he looked at him, "I am a Jaffa. However I no longer serve the Goa'uld, they are false gods. I fight against the Goa'uld now to free my fellow Jaffa slaves from the Goa'uld. I fight alongside humans now to defeat the Goa'uld."  
  
Adam stared at Teal'c and decided whether or not to trust these people. "We're telling you the truth," Jack told him from the other side of the room as he looked around Duncan. Richie and Duncan stared at Methos unsure of what exactly was going on but putting their faith in him. Adam finally came to a decision and lowered his sword from Teal'c's throat, Richie and Duncan followed suit.  
  
The two parties gravitated towards different parts of the room. Duncan quietly asked Methos, "What was that all about?"  
  
Methos looked across the room and then at Duncan with a smirk, "Fulfilling an old promise to save the world." Methos then approached the center of the room and had a seat on the couch. "So Daniel Jackson, if you aren't a Goa'uld, how do you know how to speak ancient Egyptian?"  
  
"I could ask you the same thing and about how you know about the Goa'uld?" Daniel asked back as he sat in another chair across from Adam.  
  
"It seems that we each have our secrets... Are the Goa'uld back here on Earth?"  
  
Daniel looked at Jack to determine how much to reveal, Jack answered the question though. "No. We've kept them away so far, we're fighting against them."  
  
"And by 'we', you mean the United States Air Force?" Methos asked back.  
  
Jack honestly responded, "A small contingent of it, yes. My turn, how do you know about the Goa'uld?"  
  
Adam leaned back in the sofa and looked at his two friends as he decided whether or not to answer. He considered the promise he had made to Crea'maan before his death before deciding on how to proceed. "I believe we can help each other. But before we do that, we need to come to an agreement."  
  
"On what?" Jack asked as he also sat down across from Methos.  
  
"On our secrets. I tell you what I know, you tell me what you know, then afterwards we can decide how to proceed. But we never share with anyone else what we learn from each other."  
  
"What do we have to go on that you won't tell someone else what we tell you?" Jack skeptically asked.  
  
"Only my word. The same way I will trust you not to reveal my secrets," Adam plainly told him. He could feel the tension rising in the room and decided to lighten the mood, "Or we could kill you all now?"  
  
All eyes immediately stared at Methos, who slowly let a smile creep across his face. "Don't worry, I was kidding. MacLeod over there wouldn't let me!" The Immortals picked up on Methos' sarcastic wit and smiled as well, unfortunately it did not ease the tension for the others in the room.  
  
Jack stared at his teammates unsure of exactly what to believe, "Yeah, well. Let's go with that first option shall we?"  
  
"Shall we start with some introductions then. Duncan MacLeod, Richie Ryan meet Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, and..." Adam tapered off as he waited to learn Murray's real name.  
  
"Teal'c," the muscular man filled in with a tilt of his head.  
  
"Yes, Teal'c. I'm Adam Pierson," he told them as he was about to continue on to other business.  
  
Daniel stopped him though, "Who are you really?"  
  
Adam stared hard at Daniel, "You were right Dr. Jackson, at least on some things." Adam took a deep breath before telling them his identity, "I am Methos."  
  
Daniel became excited, "I knew it! This is amazing, you really do exist and are over five thousand years old?"  
  
Adam nodded his head in agreement. Jack wasn't satisfied, "That's all nice and dandy that we know your name, but what are you?"  
  
"You don't beat around the bush do you?"  
  
"No. Must be the military in me."  
  
Adam looked at Jack and then at Duncan and Richie. It wasn't his place to reveal their identity, "I am Immortal. I have lived for over five thousand years, and I cannot die."  
  
"How is that possible?" Sam asked, ever curious.  
  
"I don't know. I was born mortal like you all and then I died. Except that I woke up after my death. I have died thousands of times, only to reawaken once again. Now, how do you know about the Goa'uld?" Adam asked them back.  
  
Daniel looked over at Jack for permission to proceed who nodded his head. "Eighty years ago the Stargate was found in Giza. Four years ago, we learned how to use it."  
  
"What exactly is this Stargate?" Duncan asked as he joined the conversation.  
  
Sam answered the question, "It's a gateway that allows individuals to travel across the galaxy in seconds. Once an address is dialed, it creates a stable wormhole with a receiving Stargate and transmits travelers across it. You see once you enter the event horizon, that's the-"  
  
"Carter!" Jack yelled as he saw the confused looks starting to form on their faces.  
  
Sam looked at her CO and then noticed the confused faces herself, "Sorry. If you've seen Star Trek, the concept is similar to a transporter, except this one works across the galaxy."  
  
Daniel continued with the history of the Stargate, "Ten thousand years ago the Goa'uld came through the Stargate here on Earth. They installed themselves as the embodiment of ancient Egyptian gods like Ra, Apophis, Osiris, and others. Somehow the Egyptians forced them back through the Stargate, but not after the Goa'uld had taken thousands of them as slaves and relocated them across the galaxy. Once they were gone, they buried the Stargate to prevent their return. We only learned that after we traveled through the Stargate to a different planet, Abydos. The people we found there had been transplanted from Earth ten thousand years ago and there civilization was the same as ancient Egypt, that's how I learned to speak ancient Egyptian. That's when we first encountered the Goa'uld, we destroyed Ra while we were on Abydos. Initially it was thought that the Stargate only connected with Abydos, I later learned that there is a vast network across the galaxy. We've been fighting the Goa'uld ever since."  
  
As Daniel finished the brief summary of their encounter with the Goa'uld Sam analyzed the facts, they weren't adding up in her mind though. "Methos you say you're five thousand years old, how sure are you about that number?"  
  
"I was a steward for Ramses the First when I was young, probably no more than a century old. I have only current dating techniques to cue me about my age. After the first millennia, they all tend to blur together and you lose track of time," Methos lightly told her. He knew though where she was going with her line of questioning.  
  
"How do you know about the Goa'uld then? They were here five thousand years before you..."  
  
"A friend of mine told me when I was young," Adam told them initially before revealing more of the truth. Unfortunately, he saw Sam wasn't satisfied with his answer. "I am not the only Immortal on Earth, there is an entire race of us scattered across the planet. When I was young I met Ramses' chief steward, Shafan. His real name was Crea'maan and he was alive when the Goa'uld came. He helped send them back through the Chappa'ai and-"  
  
"Yes, the Stargate. We call the Chappa'ai the Stargate now!" Daniel excitedly exclaimed.  
  
"Yes well, he was there when they buried the Stargate. He made it his mission to ensure that they never returned. He is the one who told me all about the Goa'uld and the Jaffa. That is why we attacked you. I saw the bottom tip of Teal'c's emblem when he entered, that coupled with the fact that you knew ancient Egyptian led me to believe that you were a Goa'uld. My apologies for earlier."  
  
"It's all right... I was scared, I mean it's not every day that I get held up with a sword... Uh, why were you carrying a sword?" Daniel asked.  
  
The Immortals all looked at each other and a silent decision was reached between Richie and Duncan. Duncan answered the question, "All Immortals carry swords."  
  
Daniel looked at Duncan and Richie and waved his hands at them, "So, you're both Immortal?" Both men nodded their heads. "Right... Um, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but why?"  
  
"Why do we carry swords?" Duncan verified. Once again a silent decision was made among the Immortals. "Because that's how we protect ourselves."  
  
"From what? You're immortal!" Jack asked them, slightly shocked to know that there was a race of men out there running around carrying swords.  
  
Methos explained the final death for Immortals, "We protect ourselves from other Immortals who are out for our heads. An Immortal can come back from any type of death, except one... decapitation. Once an Immortal's head is cut off, they are dead."  
  
"Right, because it would be hard to glue your head back on..." Jack commented. "Out of curiosity, why do you guys run around chopping each other's heads off?"  
  
"First of all, we're not all like that. Most of us just want to live and experience life and kill another Immortal only out of self defense. It's all part of the Game and the hunt for the Prize. Supposedly when there is only one Immortal left on Earth he will have the power and strength of every Immortal that has ever lived..."  
  
"Okay, that's scary!" Jack exclaimed.  
  
"It will be if the wrong person wins," Duncan told them.  
  
"Don't worry about that, there are enough Immortals out there that don't want to see that happen. Including that boy scout over there," Methos told them as he pointed at Duncan. "One person winning the Prize doesn't worry me so much, if it does happen it won't happen for hundreds of years. What worries me more is the Goa'uld..."  
  
"Yeah, me too!" Jack agreed.  
  
"So, uh, what do we do now?" Daniel asked quietly. "We each know each other's secrets..."  
  
For Methos the decision was easy, "I'd like to come with you and help you fight the Goa'uld."  
  
"Methos!" Duncan yelled, shocked that his friend would want to help in this fight.  
  
The members of SG-1 all looked at each other and thought about the offer. Jack spoke first, "That's nice of you to offer, but why?"  
  
"Because I made a promise to Crea'maan. He in turn made a promise to his wife ten thousand years ago. Their son was taken by the Goa'uld, he vowed to never let another mother feel what she felt when they took him. I promised Crea'maan that I would carry on his vow to keep the Goa'uld away before he died."  
  
"Why?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Because he taught me about Immortals and how to survive. If not for him, I probably would have died close to five thousand years ago. You never forget a man who gives you a chance at Immortality MacLeod." He then turned to Jack and the rest of SG-1, "I could be a real asset to your team. You already have one archeologist/linguist on your team. Why not add another one, I may have some different insights than Dr. Jackson. Besides, it couldn't hurt to have a member on your team that cannot die."  
  
Jack wasn't excited about having another science geek on his team, but the idea of a super soldier on his team was too hard to pass up. "I'll need to talk to my CO first, but I don't think we'll have a problem with you joining the team! We'll have to tell him about your Immortality thing, but we can stop it at that if you like." Methos nodded his head in agreement. Jack then turned to Duncan and Richie, "You guys want to come along too?"  
  
Methos answered for them, "No, they don't." He then got up and pulled the two men aside to speak with them. "This is my battle for now. Besides, I've gotten quite bored with everything this world has to offer. I think it's time I moved on to other planets to see what's out there. You guys can have this world and see what I've seen."  
  
Richie smiled, "Don't worry man, you can have the military! I was never really good at taking orders. It would be cool though, maybe some other time!"  
  
Duncan was still in shock at Methos' behavior, he wanted to go out and try and save the world. "I can't believe it Methos. Here I thought you were the world's oldest, most cynical, selfish, me-first survivor!"  
  
"I still am MacLeod! Think about it, what other safer place can you think of than being on a military base which is considered holy ground and going to different planets where there aren't any Immortals like us! It's the perfect place to hide!"  
  
Duncan smiled, "You're right, it's perfect for you! Just don't stay hidden too long and forget to stay in touch!"  
  
Methos smiled and turned his back to face his new team as he spoke, "Finally, I'll be able to get rid of that annoying noble Highlander!"  
  
Fin


End file.
